Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino says enough is enough and is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to jump-start the process of replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Speaking July 19 in Tarrytown in the bridge”™s shadow and flanked by state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Sen. Chuck Fuschillo, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Astorino said the state of the bridge is worsening every day.
“We”™ve reached a point where the engineers and consultants need to put the pencils down,” Astorino said. “The governor has got to take this by the horns and say we need a new bridge.”
The trio addressed the media following what was called a fact-finding tour of the bridge.
With nearly 180,000 cars traveling across the bridge daily, Astorino said the volume is approaching that of the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. He said that 80 state employees are assigned to the bridge on a daily basis, with the bridge costing the state $150 million a year just to maintain as previously reported by the Business Journal.
Astorino stressed the bridge is still safe, but that it is “with each passing day getting worse and worse.”
Fuschillo, a Republican from Long Island, said the committee he chairs is waiting on a five-year capital plan from the governor”™s office and that the plan will likely make clearer the immediate steps that can be taken toward the construction of a new bridge, which has been projected to cost anywhere between $9.3 billion and $16 billion.
“We feel that a public-private partnership will become a reality,” Fuschillo said.
Skelos, also a Republican from Long Island, said the bridge needs to be replaced not only for safety reasons but for economic and environmental reasons as well. He said that with 5,000 bridges in the state shown to be in varying states of disrepair, the Tappan Zee project must be a priority.
“Now we have to focus on the infrastructure of the state,” Skelos said. “This is a priority. This has to be a priority.”
Astorino stopped short of criticizing Cuomo, noting that the studies over the bridge site have been ongoing for 10 years.
“He walked into this mess,” Astorino said. “He knows the importance of this bridge. I think he will get it done.”
